The Federal High Court in Abuja has on Tuesday, sacked 17 members of the Ebonyi State House of Assembly that defected from the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, to the ruling All Progressive Congress, APC.
The lawmakers had defected along side with Dave Umahi and his Deputy, Eric Igwe.
Delivering the Judgement, Justice Inyang Ekwo held that, since the lawmakers left the PDP, they have not right to transfer the votes they got on the platform of the PDP to another party.
The court ordered that the lawmakers vacate their positions as lawmakers in the state, stopping them from acting or parading themselves as such.
Justice Ekwo further ordered the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, to accept a list of candidates from the PDP to fill the vacant positions or conduct a fresh election to fill up the vacant positions within 90days.
The court also ordered the lawmakers to refund all the salaries and other benefits they received during the period which they defected to the APC.
